Flying Air Canada with a pet in cargo

When I phoned Air Canada to book my cat’s flight, they referred me to a different phone number for cargo. I called the number they provided and booked the flight 2 weeks in advance. They said I had to be there 4 hours before my flight and said that DEFRA would be contacting me about some forms I’d need to fax them for entry clearance. I left both my UK and Canadian telephone numbers as well as Chris’ here in the UK.

Now, I’m not sure who exactly is to blame, but either Air Canada Cargo didn’t provide DEFRA with all of my phone numbers, or DEFRA only chose to call my UK mobile number, which didn’t make any sense considering I was in Canada at the time and flying with the pet, which they must have been aware of. If I hadn’t gotten Chris to call the James Cargo in London, I wouldn’t have had entry clearance forms

The one thing nobody mentioned was that Air Canada Cargo isn’t a part of the airport. I don’t exactly export things on a regular basis, so you think someone might have explained where I was to go. Even though the baggage and cargo compartments are essentially the exact same, pets are forbidden to fly to the UK through baggage because of the paperwork and handling of the animals. That much I knew.

So I showed up at the airport after a 2 hour car ride with Gravy meowing all the way. I was 4 hours early with my reference number and all kinds of paperwork — Rabies certificate, tick & tapeworm vaccination receipts, expensive blood test results, etc. All my paperwork certified by the CFIA (Canadian government agency).

The chick at the booking desk didn’t refer me to AC Cargo when I said I booked it through them. She said it showed up on her screen as $270 and I said “No, it’s supposed to be $900 because of the paperwork involved.” So upon my request she checked with her boss (who gave her the okay) and we processed the $270 – I figured I’d be billed the rest in the UK.

I went through security and to my gate only to find that I had my mom’s car keys, so I had to go back through security to courier them to her for $40, then go back through security to the gate.

Thirty or so minutes before my flight I got called to the boarding desk. The first thing they said to me was “Your cat can’t fly. Can someone come and pick him up?”

I BURST out in tears immediately. “What do you mean?” I said. “I’ve done everything right. I have all the paperwork here. This is so not my fault!” The employees were shocked at my reaction and tried to calm me down. I apologized and said I was just worried about my cat since he’d been stuck in a cage for 8 hours and he was really stressed. Tears just kept coming.

The one employee at the desk said he used to work at Cargo and explained that he’d put me on a later flight. I had to go back through security to baggage, pick up Gravy then take a $41 taxi (it was supposed to be $31 but the taxi driver stiffed me on my change) to Air Canada Cargo since the only access to it is around the airport.

It took about an hour at Cargo for the paperwork and by that time I hadn’t eaten in 7 hours. I taxi’d back (another $20) to the airport (still sobbing uncontrollably all the while), went to baggage and sorted out my bags. Then I went back to the Air Canada desk and figured out my tickets while unloading some emotional baggage on the woman at the desk.

Finally I made it to my gate after grabbing a quick pint of beer to fill my empty stomach, since by that point all the restaurants had closed.

At the boarding desk, the woman checking my passport frowned at the screen for a second before scribbling on my ticket. I noticed shortly after that she had changed my seat and as I sat down I realized I must have been bumped me up to premium economy.

I had just made myself at home in my seat, glad that nobody was going to sit beside me, when a flight attendant announced I was in the wrong seat. I sighed, looked at my ticket and he handed me a new one and stated, “You’re supposed to be in seat number 5. It’s up here at the front.”

Seat number five happened to be first class with a sleeper seat, champagne, personal TV and a meal cooked by a real chef. I couldn’t REALLY enjoy it though. I felt too guilty to enjoy it because Gravy was below stressing in the cabin. I nearly had an anxiety attack during takeoff while thinking about how scared he must have been.

To top it all off, my vet used a flea treatment that doesn’t have “marketing authorization for cats” in Canada (again not my fault – how was I to know?), so Gravy had to stay 24 hours in quarantine upon arrival and we had to make another trip to London to pick him up the next evening.

NEVER will I ever fly with a pet again.